Review: Seeing Fota House in a whole new light at Wonderlights

The crisp air and anticipation of snow only added to the festive atmosphere at the launch of the aptly named Wonderlights in Cork in recent days. 

The immersive light experience has been running in Dublin for some years, and this year, Follow Fox Events joined forces with Cork’s Cool Running Events to add a Leeside venue for the experience - Fota House, Arboretum and Gardens.

I’m a fairly regular visitor to Fota House and its grounds and would consider myself to be familiar with the various tracks and trails on site.

It is for this reason that I was quite struck by just how different the grounds looked and felt during the whole experience - it was literally seeing the site in a whole new light.

Attendees to the event follow a trail around the grounds, with various landscapes illuminated along the way starting with the ‘Artic Forest’.

My children were particularly drawn to the ‘Pond Symphony’ - an ethereal display with mesmerising light and sound elements.

Travelling through the Rainbow Tunnel - a tunnel created from a series of bright neon strip lights - seemed to be a highlight for our toddler.

He was also quite the fan of the ‘Disco Dazzle’ installation, which as the name suggests involved both a disco and some very dazzling lights.

My own personal favourite was the Cathedral Tunnel, where attendees were encouraged to ‘make a wish’ while passing through a tunnel that felt like it would almost burst with bright white lights.

With a buggy in tow, the trail took us about 45 minutes to complete, although you could definitely spend more time at some of the displays.

The walkways were accessible, even with said buggy, but it is quite dark by virtue of the event itself so that is worth keeping in mind when considering things like footwear.

There is an Alpine Food and Drinks Village at the end of the trail with a good range of food and drink options including pizzas, crepes, hot chocolates, mulled wines and a sweet stall.

We opted for crepes and hot drinks, which went down a treat.

We didn’t take a lot of pictures as our boys were keen to get to the Alpine Village for hot chocolates at the end of the experience, but there were plenty of photo opportunities along the way.

All in all, it was an experience that I would recommend to friends and one that I will likely return to next year - a great addition to the festive mix of events taking place in Cork.

Wonderlights will run at Fota House, Arboretum and Gardens until January 4.

Entry slots are available every 15 minutes from 5pm to 8pm.

Tickets start from €23.50 for adults, €21.50 for children, and €19.50 for students/OAPs (plus booking fee), with free entry for infants under two years.

See www.wonderlights.ie.